The Death of Us
by H.U.soldier13
Summary: After his mother dies, Jason has been living with Joel for most of his life. When Ellie is throw into his life, he didn't expect to get too attached to her. In the end what will he do, take her with him and Joel or give her up to the Fireflies?
1. Chapter 1: Firefly Queen

**So I hope you like it. Thanks for at least giving it a chance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters in the game.**

* * *

_"The number of confirmed deaths has passed two hundred. The governor has called it state of emergency..."_

_"There were hundreds and hundreds of bodies lining the streets."_

_"Panic spread worldwide after a leaked report of the World Health Organization showed that the latest vaccination tests have failed."_

_"...With the bureaucrats out of power we can finally take the necessary steps to..."_

_"Los Angeles is now the latest city to be placed under martial law. All residents are required to report to their designated quarantine-"_

_"Riots have continued for a third consecutive day and winter rations are at an all time low."_

_"A group calling themselves the Fireflies have claimed responsibility for both attacks."_

_"Their public charter calls for the return of all branches of government."_

_"Demonstrations broke out following the execution of six more alleged Fireflies."_

_"You can still rise with us. Remember, when you are lost in the darkness, look for the light. Believe in the Fireflies."_

* * *

**Chapter 1: Firefly Queen**

**Jason's POV**

_Bang!_

My eyes snapped open as I heard a knock on the door. I stayed laying down hoping Joel would go get the door.

_Bang! Bang!_

I sighed as I got up to go answer the door to the apartment. Joel had already beat me there though.

"I'm comin'." He said, unlocking the door and opening it to reveal Tess.

"What happened?" I asked, worried, when I saw the state Tess was in. She had a couple of bruises on her face.

"Where were you Tess?" Joel asked, angrily.

"West end district. Don't worry, I just got jumped when I was coming back here." She started pour some liquor in a glass on the table as I went over to the sit at the table. She took a swig of the drink. "We had a drop to make."

"We. We had a drop to make."

"You wanted to be left alone remember?" She said, as Joel walked over with a rag to clean the cuts.

"So let me guess. The client made off with our pills. Is that about right?"

"Deal went off without a hitch. We have enough rations cards to last a month." She pulled them out of her pocket and threw them on the table.

"Gimme that." Joel said, taking the rag away from her and he started dabbing her cuts. "Are they still with us?"

"Funny." She smiled. She could easily take care of herself even without us helping her.

"Did you find out who they were?" I asked.

"Some nobodies. What actually matters is that Robert fucking sent them." She said. I looked up when she said that. Joel was a little shocked to hear that, too.

"Our Robert?" Joel asked.

"He knows we are trying to go after him. He thinks he can get us first."

"Son of a bit is smart." Joel sighed.

"Not smart enough. I know where he's hiding."

"Like hell you do." Joel said.

"Old warehouse in Area five. Probably not for long."

"Let's go now?" Joel said, walking to the door.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Tess said.

"Oh I'm totally ready." I said, jumping up from my seat and over to the door. They both stared at me.

"No." They said at the same time, striding past me to the door.

"Oh c'mon. I'm almost going to be sixteen!"

"Almost is the keyword here." Joel said, unlocking the door again.

"And sixteen year-olds don't wine like little kids." Tess said, clearly agreeing with Joel.

"I'm not wining. And plus some kids are younger than me and they have already dangerous things."

"Okay, you have a point, I'll give you that." Tess said, earning a glare from Joel.

"What? No, Tess we are not taking him." Joel refused.

"Oh c'mon, it'll be like we are training him. And maybe it will scare him, so he won't want to come with us anymore." Tess said.

"He going to be shot at and he can die."

"I've gotten shot at before." I said.

"Fine. Whatever. You can come with us." Joel said, opening the door. I sighed in relief. I was starting to get scared that they actually weren't going to let come with them. Since I was the last one out, I locked the door. I was trailing a little far behind them, but I could still hear their conversation.

"If something happens to him..." Joel whispered.

"He smart and strong enough to handle whatever happens." Tess said.

As we exited the building, I looked around seeing guards posted at their usual spots on the ceilings and streets, keeping an eyes out for any trouble or infected. There was some people having conversations with each other, but other than that no one was really doing anything interesting.

"Check points still open." Tess said.

"We only have a couple hours left until curfew."

"Better hurry up then." We started walking around the corner to the exit of the alleyway. We passed some people by a dumpster and caught some of their conversation.

"I've been selected for outside work duty." The girl said to a guy she was talking to.

"It's such crap. The soldiers are supposed to take care of the outside." He replied.

"I'll remember to tell them that next time."

As we continued walking, we noticed that the ration line was still closed. It has been closed for while already.

_"Attention. All citizens are required to carry a current ID at all times. Compliance with all city personnel is mandatory."_

A couple of soldiers had road blocks on the street and were pointing their guns at some people. They probably thought they were infected.

"Down on the ground!" One of the soldiers demanded.

"You leave me alone."

"Hands on your head. Now!" A soldier yelled, pointing his gun at the guy's head.

"Scan them." Another soldier said. He pulled out a scanner that would tell them if the people were infected or not. He put the scanner behind the guy's ear and there was a little click.

"He's clean." They did the same with the next guy.

"Clean." They scanned the girl next.

"Got one!"

"Hold her down."

"I'm not infected. The scanner is wrong!" She started shouting.

We kept walking in the opposite direction. As we were getting closer to the checkpoint, we could hear some gunshots in the distance.

"More people are getting infected." Tess said.

"Meaning more people are just sneaking out."

"I got us new papers. Shouldn't give us any trouble up there." We walked up to the checkpoint line.

"Let me see some IDs." The soldiers said, holding his hand out.

"Here." Joel handed him the IDs.

"What's your business here?" The soldier asked, while he looked over the IDs.

"Got the day off. Visiting a friend."

"Alright, move on through." The soldier moved aside and we took a couple of steps forward and a truck exploded. Tess and Joel staggered back, knocking me down.

"Fireflies!"

"Fucking shoot them!"

The guard slammed the gate shut. "Get out of here!" He yelled at us, but I could barely hear him. My ears were ringing from the explosion.

"C'mon! Start running!" As Tess and Joel started running, I scrambled up and tore after them. Sirens started blaring making my ears hurt way more than they already did.

_"Attention. Checkpoint five as now closed until further notice. All civilians must clear the surrounding area immediately."_ The lady over the intercom kept repeating that over and over again.

As I was following Tess and Joel, people were panicking over the attack of the Fireflies. Everyone was just running around unsure of what to do. Tess ran into a building and held the door open for us.

"Here patch yourselves up." She handed us a first aid kit and Joel started cleaning the cuts that we got during the explosion.

"They're going to close all the checkpoints. We're going to have to go around the outside." Tess started walking down the hall.

"Outside the wall?" Joel asked.

"Or we could just let Robert go."

"Cute."

"Hey, Tess, you see that shit?" A guy sitting on a bench outside in the hallway came up to us.

"I was there. How's the east tunnel looking?"

"It's clear. No patrols. Where you off to?" He asked.

"Gonna pay Robert a visit."

"You too?" He questioned.

"Who else is looking for him?"

"Marlene. She's been asking around, trying to find him."

"Marlene? What do the Fireflies want with Robert?"

"You'd think she would tell me?"

"What did you tell her?" Tess asked.

"The truth. I've got no idea where he is hiding." He said. I could tell he was telling the truth.

"Good man. Hey you stay out of trouble, military's going to be in full force soon."

"See you around." We continued walking, leaving the guy behind.

"We better find Robert before the Fireflies do." Joel said.

* * *

"Go fuck yourself!" Robert threw his empty gun through the door we were taking cover behind. Robert took off running out of the door.

"He's running!" Tess said. Joel started running after with Tess and me on his tail. I hoped my asthma wouldn't start acting up anytime soon.

"Robert!" Joel shouted.

"Screw you, Joel!"

We ran in the door he had ran through leading to another door. "He ran through here!" Joel ran up to the door and kicked it open, just as Robert was running around a corner. I was already starting to breathe hard, even though we only ran a few steps. I started slowing down, but Joel, as old as he is, keep running quickly. Robert ran into a building and jumped out of a window with Joel right behind him. After Tess had gotten out of the window I got out to find Robert cornered by a fence blocking one side of the alleyway and Joel blocking the other.

"Come on!" Robert was banging on the gate like it was going to open. I leaned against the wall ready to try to stop him if he tried running again.

"Hello Robert." Tess said.

"Tess. Joel. Jason, right?" He said, looking at me. "No hard feelings, right?" He said, now looking at Joel.

"None at all." Tess said, bending down to get a pipe off the ground. This guy was fucked.

"Alright." He said. Then he tried running and I took a step forward to get him, but Tess hit his legs with the pipe knocking him over. "Look whatever it is you heard, it isn't true okay? I just wanna say-"

"Want to tell us where the guns are?" Tess asked him.

"It's complicated alright?" Joel stepped away from the wall, going over to where Robert was laying on the floor and kicked him right in the nose. He bent down and grabbed Robert's arm laying it out straight on the concrete and started to put pressure on it.

"Ah stop, stop."

"You were saying?" Tess went over and crouched next to him.

"I sold them." He said, out of breath.

"Excuse me?" Tess said.

"I didn't have much of a choice. I owed someone."

"You owed us."

"I just need more time. Just give me a week."

"I might have done that if you hadn't tried to fucking kill me."

"It wasn't like-" Tess cut him off.

"Who has our guns?" Tess asked, more forcefully.

"I can't." Joel twisted his arm and I heard the snap from where I was standing. I wince imagining the pain.

"Who has our guns?"

"Fireflies. I owed the Fireflies."

"What?"

"They're basically all dead. We could just go in there and finish them off." Robert was spouting nonsense, nodding his head. "We get the guns. What do you say?" Joel and  
Tess stood up.

"That is a stupid idea." Tess raised her gun and put two bullets through his head. A pool of blood started gathering around Robert. Disgusting.

"What now?" Joel asked.

"We're going to get the guns, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're going to get them back."

"How?"

"Explain it to them. Let's go find a Firefly." Tess suggested.

"You don't have to look far." We turned around, to see a woman step out of the shadows. A dark skinned woman came into my view. In one hand she was holding a gun and with the other she clutched her side over her bleeding wound. Marlene. Leader of the Fireflies.

"There you go. Queen Firefly." Joel said.

"Why are you here?" Marlene asked.

"Business." Tess replied. She gestured to the wound. "You're not looking so hot."

"Where's Robert?" Marlene asked, looking around. Tess stepped aside so Marlene could see the state Robert was now permanently in. "I needed him alive."

"The guns he gave you, they weren't his to sell and I want them back." Tess demanded. Marlene shook her head.

"Doesn't work like that Tess."

"The hell it doesn't."

"I paid for those guns, so if you want them back you are going to have to earn them."

"How many cards?"

"I don't give damn about ration cards." She shook her head. "I need something smuggled out of the city. You do that and I'll give you your guns back."

"How do we know you got them?" Joel finally spoke up. "Military has been wiping you out."

"You're right about that. I'll show you the weapons." Marlene said.

"Search the area!" We could hear some soldiers through the building that we had just come from.

"I gotta move." Marlene hurriedly said. "What's it going to be?"

"I wanna see those guns.

"Follow me."

This was going to be a long trip.


	2. Chapter 2: Ellie

**So I hope you like it. Thanks for at least giving it a chance.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters in the game.**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Ellie**

**Jason's POV**

As we followed Marlene to wherever she was taking us to see our guns, I was kept at the back of the group since I was the youngest one. We ran into some of the military guys, but other than that the trip was uneventful. Finally she led us into a building to a door.

"Joel... give me a hand with this." Marlene said, grabbing onto the handle of the door. Joel opened the door and she fell forward to the ground. The trip here had drained all her energy, so she could barely walk anymore.

"Woah, you okay?" I asked as I lifted her up.

"Get the fuck away from her!" Something rammed into my side knocking me to the floor. When I turned my face to see what the hell had knocked me to the floor, my face almost came into contact with the knife the girl was holding.

"Hey!" Tess shouted, grabbing the girls arm and lifting her off me before she could stab me.

"Let her go." Marlene said, from where she was leaning on a counter to support herself. Tess let go of her arm. I got up from the ground, my heart going crazy. I almost got stabbed.

"You okay?" Tess asked me. I nodded.

"You're recruiting kind of young, aren't you?" Joel said. I looked over at the girl. She looked to be a little younger than me. Maybe thirteen or fourteen.

"She is not one of mine." Marlene said, struggling to keep herself standing.

"Shit. What happened?" The girl went over to Marlene helping her, finally noticing the wound.

"Don't worry. I got us help, but I can't go with you." Marlene said to the girl.

"Well then I'm staying." The girl said instantly.

"Ellie we won't get another shot at this."

"Wait, she's the cargo?" I asked pointing at her.

"Yeah, and the cargo has a name." The girl said.

"Yeah, who cares, Ellen." I said.

"It's Ellie."

"Whatever."

"Hey, shut up will you?" Tess said. I held up my hands defensively.

"We're smuggling her?" Joel asked Marlene.

"There's a crew of Fireflies that will meet you at the capital building."

"That's not exactly close." Tess said.

"You're capable. Look you go and hand her off and you'll get your guns. Double of what Robert gave me." Marlene tells us.

"Speaking of, where are they?" Tess demanded.

"Back at our camp."

"We're not smuggling shit, until I see them."

"You follow me and see the weapons, but she can't cross to that part of town." Marlene pointed at the girl. "I want Joel and him to watch over her."

I realized she was talking about me. "What?"

"Look I don't think this is the best idea." Joel tried to object.

"Bullshit, I'm not going with him!" The girl started complaining.

"Ellie..." Marlene instantly made her be quite.

"How do you know them?" Ellie asked.

"I was close to his brother Tommy. Said if I was ever in trouble, I could rely on him." She pointed at Joel.

"Was that before or after he left your group?" Joel asked.

"He left you, too."

"Just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there." Tess whispered to Joel.

Marlene was whispering something to the girl. "Now go with him."

"Don't take long." Joel looked at Tess. He looked over at me and Ellie. "You two- stay close."

"Yes, sir." I said walking over to the door by Joel. He glared at me.

"Don't call me sir." He practically growled.

"Sorry, sir." I grinned at him when he gave me a glare. If looks could kill.

"Let's go." He said, as he opened the door.

When we got outside of the building, there was some bodies littered on the floor in the middle of the street. There was a puddle of blood around them.

"I heard all the shooting, but..." Ellie said, looking at the bodies. "What happened?"

"Fireflies. Same thing will happen to us if we don't get off the road soon."

"Your the pro. I'm just following you." Ellie responded. We continued walking down the street to some stairs.

_"Attention. Harboring or aiding wanted criminals is punishable by death. Do not place yourself at risk. Report any suspicious activity immediately."_ The lady over the intercom was repeating that over and over again. Her voice was really starting to get annoying.

Joel lead us to through an alleyway to the back of some buildings. Ellie was starting to get curious. "Where are we going?"

"Up there. That will get us to the north tunnel." Joel pointed up to a fire escape.

"How are we supposed to reach that?"

"Just give me a minute. Hey, look around for something that could help us get up there." Joel said. I started walking around looking for something. I saw a huge dumpster inside a garage.

"What about this?" I asked, pulling it out.

"That'll do. Bring it over." I started pushing it over to the stairs of the fire escape. When I pushed it close enough, Joel jumped up on the dumpster and climbed onto the stairs. I climbed up next, leaving Ellie down there.

"Do you used this tunnel to smuggle things?" Ellie questioned Joel, when she climbed onto the stairs, too.

"Yeah."

"Like illegal things."

"Sometimes."

"You ever smuggle a kid before?"

"No. It's a first."

"So what's the deal with you and Marlene anyways?"

"I don't know. She's my friend I guess."

"Your friend huh? You're friends with the leader of the Fireflies. What are you like twelve?"

"She knew my mom. She's been looking out for me. And I'm fourteen not like that has anything to do with anything." So she's fourteen. I knew it.

"Where are your parents?"

"Where are anyone's parents? They have been gone a long, long time."

"So instead of staying in school, you just run off and join the Fireflies. Is that it?"

"Look I'm not supposed to tell you why you are smuggling me, if that's where you're getting at."

"You wanna know the best thing about my job? I don't gotta know why. Be honest with you, I could give two shits about what you are up to."

"Well great."

"Good."

We walked to the end of the hall to a door that didn't have the military look on it. Joel opened the door and let us in. "This is it."

Ellie stood awkwardly by the doorway, while Joel went to go lay down on the big couch. I went over and sat on the window seal.

"What are you doing?" Ellie asked.

"Killing time."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"I am sure you will figure that out." She started wandering across the room, looking around.

"Your watch is broken." Ellie said, as came over and sat down on the arm chair close by the window.

"Leave him alone." I said. I knew what that watch meant to him, so she shouldn't talk to him about him.

"What do you mean?" Ellie looked over at me.

"Just don't mention the watch."

"Why?"

"Just don't, okay?"

We sat in silence for awhile. I was looking outside the whole time, watching the sky cloud over and start raining. She was just sitting there, looking out the window, too.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"I have nothing to say." I answered, still looking outside.

"If I ask you some questions, will you answer them?"

"Maybe."

"How old are you?" She asked.

"Fifteen. Going to be sixteen, soon."

"Where are your parents?" She asked. I finally looked over at her.

"I don't want to talk about them."

She didn't ask anything else after that. I think she knew I didn't really want to talk. I laid my head against the cold window sill and started closing my eyes.

* * *

"You mumble in your sleep." A girls voice said. "I hate bad dreams."

"Yeah, me too." I took me a while to recognize the voices. It was Ellie and Joel talking about something.

"Is he awake yet?" Joel asked. I guessed they were talking about me.

"I don't think so."

"Yeah, I am." I said, opening my eyes. Ellie was still in the arm chair looking outside at the rain and Joel was at the coach, sitting up.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty." Ellie said, smirking at me. I glared.

"Funny." She just grinned and went back to looking outside.

"You know, I've never been this close. To the outside." Ellie said.

"Never been out there?" I asked, remembering my horrible memories of the outside. I shuddered at the thought of going out there again.

"No. Have you?"

"Yeah." I saw her opening her mouth, probably going to ask why or something, but I cut her off. "Don't really want to talk about it."

"Look how dark it is. Can't get any worse. Can it?" She asked Joel.

"What on earth do the Fireflies want with you?" Ellie didn't get to answer because the door opened a second later.

"Sorry, I'm late. Soldiers fucking everywhere." Tess explained, as she walked over to us.

"How's Marlene?" Ellie asked, obviously worried.

"She'll live." She looked over at Joel. "I saw the merchandise, it's a lot. Wanna do this?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3: Immune

**So here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Thanks to all the people who read the first couple of chapters and giving this story a chance. And thanks for adding it to your favorites and following the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters except Jason.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Immune **

**Jason's POV**

"Who's waitin' for us at the drop off?" Joel asked.

"She said there's some Fireflies that have traveled all the way from another city." Tess answered. "Girl must be important."

Tess looked over at Ellie. "What's the deal with you anyway? You some big-wig's daughter or something?"

"Something like that." Ellie said. I frowned at her. I could tell from the way she said it, that there was something more to her than just being someone's daughter. She caught me staring.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing." I shook my head. The platform came to a stop and we walked off it.

"How long is this all going to take?" Ellie asked Joel.

"If everything goes as planned, we should get you to them in a couple of hours." Tess said, as Joel went over to a corner and found a map. It was a patrol routes map and had a bunch of pink arrows marking things all over the map. At least there is still pretty markers.

Joel lead us through the little tunnel of the broken wall. He climbed up the ladder, moving the board, so he could check if the coast was clear.

"Hold up. There is a patrol up ahead." We waited a couple of seconds. "Alright. Come on up."

Once we were all up, Joel pushed the board back to conceal the hole.

"Holy shit. I'm actually outside." Ellie said. I snorted. Being outside of the wall never really did me any good.

We started walking up to huge truck that delivered lobsters. I wondered if lobsters actually taste good. They always have looked creepy to me. Joel jumped inside the truck and started walking forward to the front, where there was an opening. When Joel jumped out of the truck, I was caught by surprise when a soldier jammed their gun into his face, knocking him to the ground. I started pulling my gun out from behind my waistband, but she pointed her gun at me.

"Don't do anything stupid."

"Move." I heard another soldier behind us. I jumped out of the truck and went to stand by Joel.

"Turn around, on your knees." I went down on my knees and put my hands on my head. She started talking to the other soldier. "You scan them. I'll call it in."

"Alright."

"This is Ramirez from sector twelve. Requesting pick up for three stragglers. Understood."

"Look the other way. We can make this worth your while." Tess said to the soldier. He place the scanner behind her ear.

"Shut up." He went over to me and place the thing behind my ear. Once we heard a click he went to Joel next.

"What's the ETA?" The soldier asked.

"A couple of minutes."

"Sorry." Ellie said. I looked over at her just as she pulled out her knife and stabbed the soldier in the leg. He pointed his gun at Ellie and just as he shot a bullet Joel tackled him down. Tess started shooting the other soldier, as Joel forced the other one to shoot himself.

"Oh fuck, oh fuck." Ellie said, scrambling away. "I thought we were just going to hold them up or something."

Tess bent down to grab the scanner on the ground. She looked at it. "Oh shit. Look." She tossed it over to Joel. I looked over his shoulder to see the scanner. There was a bold, red word flashing on the screen. "Infected."

I looked over at Ellie. Since she was the last one scanned she was the one infected.

"Marlene set us up? Why the hell are we smuggling an infected girl?" Joel demanded looking at Ellie.

"I'm not infected." I snorted.

"Yeah, right." I pointed my gun at her.

"No?" Joel tossed the scanner on the floor. "Is this lying?"

"I can explain." Ellie said.

"You better explain fast."

"Look at this." She pulled up her sleeve, revealing a bite mark on the arm. It looked like she could have barely gotten the mark not too long ago.

"I don't care how you got infected."

"It's three weeks old."

"No. Everyone turns within two days." Tess objected. "So you stop bullshitting."

"It's three weeks. I swear. Why would she set you up?"

I could hear a car in the distance. I turned around as I saw some lights heading toward.

"Oh shit. Tess run." Joel started pulling her along.

"C'mon!" I yanked Ellie up by the arm and started running behind Joel.

We jumped down into the trench, just as the truck stopped where the two dead soldiers were.

"I got two dead uniforms. I repeat. I got two dead casualties in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate backup."

"That's not good." I whispered. Sirens started going off and spotlights turned on. The lights started going everywhere, trying to locate us. We hid behind rubble, trying to blend into the shadows. We jumped down into another trench, this one filled with water. I could feel the water soaking up in my sneakers.

"It's going to be another sprint. You ready?" Tess whispered as she hid behind a wall. An army vehicle drove over a bridge flashing a light into the trench, trying to locate their targets, but we were concealed into the shadows.

"They're everywhere." Joel said, as we sprinted to the tunnel. I had to crouch really low since the tunnel was quite small. We dropped down from the tunnel deeper into the trench.

"Soldiers right there." Tess said, as she hid.

"They must've gotten through. Check the trenches." A male soldier shouted the command, as another soldier shined the flashlight.

"I don't see anything down there. Are we sure they came this way?" Another soldier asked.

"Unless told otherwise, we keep scanning."

"Follow Joel." Tess told Ellie.

We walked under a bridge, nearly getting spotted by one of the soldiers. Once we got passed the soldier, we keep running down the trench, through a broken wall. We jumped down into some water, that went up to my waist. I got the horrible image of infected being in the water and I shivered. All this running was making my asthma act up, causing me to wheeze really loudly.

"I hear them up ahead." Joel said. We hid behind some boards, right before some soldier walked up shinning his flashlight around the area. I was really surprised he could not hear my breathing.

"Fuck it. Let the clickers get them." The soldiers said, leaving. There was clickers around. Great.

We went into another boarded area. This one had some decorations, so we were probably in some apartment or something. Joel opened the garage door and we went through into the street.

* * *

After nearly getting spotted by dozens of soldiers, we went through a pipe that could probably fit a car. Joel opened the gate of the pipe holding it open for us to get out.

"Alright they're gone." Joel said, looking around for soldiers.

"Okay, look." Tess crouched down where Ellie was sitting. "What was the plan? Let's say we deliver you to the Fireflies, what then?"

"Marlene, she said that they have their own little quarantine zone. With doctors there still trying to find a cure." Ellie started explaining.

"Yeah we've heard that before, huh, Tess?" Joel said.

"And that whatever happened to me, is the key to finding a vaccine." Ellie continued.

"Oh Jesus." Joel snorted.

"It's what she said." Ellie said to Joel.

"Oh I'm sure she did."

"Oh fuck you man." Ellie shouted at Joel. "I didn't ask for this."

"Me neither." Joel walked up to Tess. "Tess, what the hell we doing here?"

"What if it's true?"

"I can't believe-"

"What if Joel? We've come this far, let's just finish it." Tess argued.

"Do I need to remind you what is out there?"

"I get it." Tess said, looking over at Ellie. I was a bit confused not knowing what Tess was talking about. She started walking away from him, with Ellie not far behind. Joel just stood there, so I caught up to Ellie, keeping the pace with her.

"I wonder what that was about." I said her. She didn't say anything. "Why are you quiet?"

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you." Ellie said, walking faster.

"Well I'm offended right now. You know you're the one who told me to talk." I sped up a little.

"Yeah now I wish I hadn't."

I stayed silent for a moment. "So I'm guessing you're not some big-wig's daughter?"

She looked over at me and I smirked.

"Are you doing this to be annoying?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah, a little. Is it working?" I asked, chuckling.

"Nope, not working."

"Well I think it is."

"No-" Ellie started to argue, but Joel cut her off.

"Will you two shut up?" He said from behind us.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." I said, not even trying to whisper.

"What'd you say?" Joel scolded.

"Nothing." I laughed.

"This way. If we cut through the downtown, we can make it to the capital building by sunrise." Tess said, leading the way. We walked under a bridge, getting closer to the huge skyscrapers. I looked up into the sky and I could barely see the top of the buildings. One of them was slanted on top of another one.

"These things are huge." I said to myself.

"Holey moley. I guess that's what these buildings look like up close." Ellie said, in awe. "They're so damn tall. So what happened here?" Ellie asked gesturing to all the ruins.

"They bombed the hell of the surrounding areas to the quarantine zones, hoping to kill as much of the infected as possible." Tess answered. "It worked- for a little while."

As we were walking, we could hear a screech in the distance. That could only mean one thing.


	4. Chapter 4: Infected

**So here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

**Thanks to all the people who read the first couple of chapters and giving this story a chance. And thanks for adding it to your favorites and following the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters in the game except Jason.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Infected**

**Jason's POV**

"What the hell was that?" Ellie asked, wondering what the sound was.

"Tess you hear that?"

"Yeah sounded pretty far away though."

"Are we safe?" Ellie asked, clearly worried.

"For now." Tess said.

"Are you scared?" I teased Ellie. She glared at me.

"No." She said and I snorted. She looked away. "Oh shut up."

"Oh c'mon, don't be a chicken." I said.

"You know you shouldn't be picking on someone who has a knife." She pulled out her knife, pointing it at me.

"Now I am truly terrified." I held my hand over chest.

"You're a jerk."

"I know."

We came to edge of the street. I looked over the edge to see a bunch of rubble down there. I imagined myself falling over the edge and my heart starting pounding. I hate heights. I looked over at Ellie.

"Catch me if I fall."

"Yeah, no I'm not going to do that." Ellie shook her head.

"Look whose the jerk now." She didn't say anything, looking over the edge.

"Damn that's quite a drop."

"There's the capital building." I looked over to where Joel was pointing in the distance, at the golden building.

"Yeah we need to get around this mess."

"This was the downtown area?" Ellie questioned.

"It was. Now it's a giant wasteland."

As we crawled out of the destroyed building, we ended up next to another one. There was a sign in front of this one, but there was some letters missing from the sign.

"The -ol-stone buil-in"

I started walking up some stairs toward some benches in some sort of park area.

"You find anything over there?" Joel asked.

"No." Tess said.

"Keep lookin'."

"Should I do anything?" Ellie asked.

"Just stay close to her for now." Joel said.

I walked around a bit and saw a pendent up in a tree. I grabbed a bottle and threw it at the tree, knocking the pendent off. I picked it off the ground. On one side was the Firefly symbol and the other had a name.

**Joseph Lenz**

**#00113**

Poor guy. He is probably dead if we found his pendent.

We headed into the building. In a hallway, a dead body was there with blood splattered on the wall behind it.

"He's been ripped apart." Tess observed. From where I was standing, I could smell his scent of blood.

"Yeah." Joel said.

"Body's pretty fresh."

"Is that bad?" Ellie asked.

"Yeah it might be. Let's not stick around."

We went into the room across the hallway. There was some stairs there and another door.

"Go into the room. Search for supplies." Tess said. I walked up to the door, getting my gun ready, hoping nothing was going to jump out on me. There was nothing in the room (thank god for that), except a huge office tables with a few chairs knocked over on their sides. At the end of the table, there was some parts, useful for our guns.

We went back into the hallway we had just came from, and went up the stairs to find another dead body slumped against the wall. A puddle of blood surrounded the body with a note beside it.

"Another one. Shit."

"Looks like these guys died waiting for back up." Joel said, going up the stairs. In the first door we came across, there was another body. The only difference was this one had weird fungus stuff growing all over it's head.

"Goddamnit. Clickers."

"I'm getting a really bad feeling about this." I said.

"Geez, what's wrong with it's face?" Ellie asked, disgusted.

"That's what years of infection will do to you." Tess explained, as Joel pried away the body from the door, so we could open it.

"So what, are they blind?"

"Sort of. They see using sound."

"Like bats?" Ellie questioned.

"Like bats. If you hear clicking, you gotta hide. That's how they spot you."

Joel started slamming his shoulder into the door breaking it open. We went under a fallen file cabinet, leading into another room. This one was full of office desks and some broken chairs. We started hearing creaking like the building was going to collapse on us, but only little bits of the ceiling fell off. After searching the office for supplies, Joel walked up to another door. This one didn't want to open.

"Gimme a hand with this." Joel said. So I walked up to the door, putting my shoulder against it. We started slamming into the door at the same time, until it gave away.

"Joel!" Tess screamed from behind us. I turned to look at the direction Joel was and saw him get tackled by a clicker. It started clicking as it was trying to hit and bite Joel. I kicked it in the face knocking it on the floor and Tess shot it from behind me.

"Thanks." Joel said, getting up.

"You alright?" Tess asked.

"It's nothin'."

"Good teamwork, guys." I said, out of breath. Have I mentioned I hate having asthma.

"Let's search for supplies." Tess said, stepping over the clicker's body into another room.

"Shit. Oh that was intense." Ellie said, following Tess into the room.

I started looking around in the cabinets finding some alcohol and a brick on the floor, while Joel went to another room. I heard him open another door hopefully finding more supplies.

"C'mon let's get the hell out of here." Joel said, from the hallway. The end of the hall was caved in, so we had to go into another room with a broken stair case. There was a body hanging down from where the stairs collapsed. Joel boosted Tess up, to check if there was a way we could go through.

"It's clear. Come on, Ellie."

Joel lifted her up on there. He turned to me.

"Your turn."

"Psh, I don't need no boost." I said.

"Okay then. Go ahead." Joel said, shaking his head.

I went up to the wall jumping up barely getting my hand over the edge. I tried using my feet to push myself up the wall, but it was too slippery.

"Oh, crap. No-" I fell backwards onto the floor hitting my head. Well that's what I get for being an idiot.

"Okay. Fine, maybe I do need a boost." Joel started chuckling.

Joel boosted me up and Tess pulled me up the rest of the way. She was pretty strong if she could lift me up. I will be amazed if she can lift Joel up by herself because he is bigger than me.

We heard some clicking coming our way. I looked over at the door and saw a clicker coming through it.

"Clickers! Go, go!" We ran into another room and hid behind the desk to avoid the clicker from finding us. It followed the sound of our footsteps into the room and it started walking around looking for us, making the clicking sound. Tess grabbed a bottle from the ground and threw it like a grenade into the other room. The clicker went toward the broken bottle, looking for the source of the sound. We started sneaking across the room, trying to stay concealed by the desks. Joel threw a brick, trying to lead the clicker to other side of the room so we could escape.

"That's our way out. Over the scaffolding." Tess whispered to us. Joel threw another brick to keep it distracted as we climbed over the scaffolding. We made it over just in time before the stupid clicker came back. Another body of a soldier was leaning against the wall. There was a health kit by him. That could be useful.

"Think that's it. Ellie, you okay?" Tess asked.

"Other than shitting my pants. I'm fine." Ellie said.

The staircase was blocked by huge boulders, so Joel jumped down on the stairs to move a desk.

"Go ahead." We crouched down so we could fit through the small opening.

"The stairwell's blocked. Should we go back up?" Ellie asked.

"Ahh this is crazy." Tess said, as she climbed out of the window onto the suspended platform. It swayed as she got on. "Just don't look down."

"Are you serious?" Ellie looked scared as she looked at Tess like she was crazy. Ellie went next, and just as she jumped on the second platform I got on. My heart started beating like crazy. If there was one thing I was truly afraid of, it was heights. I managed to get on the second platform without plunging to my death.

Ellie climbed on the ledge. "Don't look down. Don't look down." She was whispering to herself.

After she said that I snuck a look down, immediately regretting that decision. My heart started beating fast and I was started to breath hard again thanks to my asthma. I climbed onto the ledge, trembling.

"Shit. Shit, shit. Don't look down you idiot." I started whispering to myself, trying hard not to panic. I started sliding across the ledge toward the window Tess and Ellie went through. Ellie stuck her head out of the window watching me. I started sliding fast, but after one of my legs slid off nearly knocking me off the edge, I slowed down.

"Come on, you're almost here." Ellie encouraged. I slid a couple of more feet and went through the window. "Yes! I made it!" Ellie cheered with me just as Joel crawled through the window.

"Shut it you two. You're going to attract them." Tess said.

"Sorry." We walked down the stairs into a room. There was another dead soldier in there. A revolver was right next to him and Joel grabbed it, checking to see how many bullets it had. Distant sounds of clicking and screeching came from somewhere in the room. More infected. Great.

* * *

"You're coming with me so you can learn." Joel whispered to me.

Several clicking sounds and screams filled the room as we prepared to take them out as quietly as possible. Joel jumped down from the rock, turning off his flashlight, so we wouldn't get spotted by the runners. Tess and Ellie stayed behind as I followed Joel around a wall. I picked up a pipe off the ground just in case things went wrong.

The first of the infected was behind the wall, hunched over making weird sounds. It hadn't spotted us yet because it was facing the other way. Joel went up behind it, putting it into a headlock. It started making choking sounds, while trying to pry Joel's arms away from it's neck. Once it stopped struggling Joel put it on the ground and hid behind a rock.

"Throw the brick against the wall." Joel instructed. I grabbed the brick from the ground and aimed at the wall. When the brick connected with the wall, it broke into pieces creating a loud sound attracting one of the infected with a helmet on. He was one of the soldiers. It didn't have any of the fungus growing around it's head yet, meaning it could probably see me, so I ducked down more.

"Go behind him and put him in a head lock." Joel whispered. When the infected was distracted, I went up behind it and started to strangle it. The runner started smacking me in the head and arms, trying to break my hold on him, but I just squeezed tighter until he fell limp on the floor. Joel went back into the hall we came from locating another runner, just as it limped into another room. Joel sneakily follow it and quickly strangled that one, too. We move back into the hallway throwing a bottle, so the runner would come closer to us. Before Joel could get directly behind the runner, it had spotted us. The runner ran at Joel trying to bite and hit him at the same time. I swung the pipe at it's head almost hitting Joel by accident. Joel shoved the infected away from him and I started hitting it with the pipe until it finally died.

I looked behind me hearing the clicking sound coming closer. We had made too much noise trying to kill the runner, attracting the clicker to us. We started sprinting away from it hiding behind a rock. Since it couldn't see us, the clicker was having trouble finding us. Joel pulled out a shiv and ran behind it, stabbing it in the neck.

"Alright come on down." Joel shouted up to where Tess and Ellie were waiting.

Tess whistled. "I'm impressed, Joel."

"Let's get out of here." Joel said, climbing up onto a rock.


	5. Chapter 5: Museum

**The next chapter is here. Thanks to all the people who favorite, followed or reviewed, I appreciate it. Well anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the game The Last of Us or any of the characters in the story except for Jason.**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Museum**

**Jason's POV**

Joel dragged the rusted file cabinet that was blocking the door. I cringed when the file cabinet grinded against the ground making a loud screeching noise.

"Alright Tess go." I helped Joel hold the heavy file cabinet in place, while Tess and Ellie went through the door to find something to hold the door open for us.

"Alright. Here this will work." I looked through the window to see Tess pushing something toward the door. "Ellie help me with this." Together they pushed the printer thing in the way of the door so it wouldn't close on us when we let go of the file cabinet. I jumped over the printer, ducking so I wouldn't bang my head on the ceiling. Joel started searching the room for supplies.

I followed Tess out of the room into the hallway. Most of the ceilings and walls had collapsed making it harder for us to go down. We started navigating through the maze-like ruins, trying to get out of the building.

"You know I was thinkin', after we get back, we can take it easy for a while." Tess told Joel. I snorted. Yeah right.

"You want to take it easy?" Joel asked, not believing her for a second.

"Hey, you're the one always going on about laying low." Tess said, defensively.

"And you always brushed me off."

Joel lead us through a small opening that some water was pouring out of. I had to crouch down barely fitting into the hole, while Ellie easily got out since she was smaller than me.

"Well, I won't this time."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

We continued walking downward through the building. We found a dead body laying by a bench.

"Look at his sleeve. Firefly." Tess said.

"Yup. These guys aren't doing well in or out of the city. I just hope there is someone alive to meet us at the drop off." Joel said, picking up a Molotov by the dead guy. We walked a little further into the room and found another dead Firefly on the escalator. Joel started reading the note the guy had, and I looked over his shoulder. The note said:

-Meet up with Firefly team at capital building

Girl  
5'3 (?)  
14 years old  
red hair

"They're from the quarantine zone." Joel told Tess.

"See, they aren't our guys." Tess said.

We walked over to the corner where there was a small opening in the rocks. We crawled under it and started hearing the clickers.

"Over there. See em'." Joel pointed at the clicker walking by.

"Shit." Tess went and hid behind a broken vending machine. "God, we're almost out. Okay Joel you take point. I'll watch the rear. Jason, stay behind him, and Ellie, no matter what you stay right on Jason's heels."

"Sure." Ellie crouched behind me.

"Stay sharp."

"Got it."

Joel quietly opened some lockers on the side wall, finding some ammo and a shiv. He crept up on the first clicker stabbing it in the neck. As it died, it made really loud clicking sounds, getting me worried because I didn't want the other infected to be attracted by the sound.

We started walking down the hall finding another infected kneeling on the ground, munching on a dead body. Joel put it in a head lock until it stop struggling. Three more infected to go. He quickly made a shiv, and went to go kill the nearest clicker. Since we ran out of supplies to make a shiv, Joel threw a Molotov at one of the clickers. The other clicker got attracted by the sound and he stepped into the fire. It went up in flames and started making a wailing sound. After it stopped burning, we stepped over the ashes of the two clickers, heading towards the other side of the room.

We kept walking through the building until we ran into another runner in a store. Joel strangled that one, while we looked for more supplies. I found a pair of scissors, so we made another shiv.

We kept walking through the building until we spotted another clicker.

"Wanna shiv him, so you can learn?" Joel asked me. I nodded and took a shiv from Joel. I snuck up on the clicker as quietly as I could and grabbed the clicker, stabbing it in the neck. The shiv broke when I stabbed it.

"Watch out!" Joel shouted from behind me. I turned around to see a clicker running straight toward me. I didn't have another shiv with me, so I started panicking not knowing what to kill it with until I remembered my gun. Just as I reached for my gun, Joel grabbed the clicker and stabbed it.

"Joel, up there." Tess pointed at a ladder. He boosted her up and she pulled down the ladder for us. I climbed on the ladder after Tess and crawled out of the broke wall onto a RV. I jumped down from there.

"Holy shit. We actually made it." Ellie said.

"Everyone okay?" Joel asked.

"Yes. Let's move."

"You guys are pretty good at this stuff." Ellie said.

"It's called luck and it is gonna run out."

We walked a little further, climbing over pieces of ruble until we came across an intersection.

"Which way we going Tess?" Joel asked her.

"Capital building is that way." She pointed down one of the paths. It was blocked by a huge truck. We were going to have find something to climb over it. Joel went to building to the left through the broken wall. I didn't see them at first, but I heard their moans. The infected were hunched over, so they hadn't spotted us yet.

"You get that one. I'll get the other one." Joel whispered to me.

I went over to the first infected and started strangling it. Joel went to the other one, threw it on the ground and stomped on it's head. Blood splattered everywhere. Joel went over to the third runner and strangled that one. While he was doing that I dragged the cart back over to the truck, so we could climb over it.

"They're recently infected. The soldiers must have just turned." Tess observed.

"Which means there is more in the area. We gotta go." Joel said.

We climbed over the truck, leaping back onto the ground. Joel started pulling the chain to the garage door, making a loud screeching sound.

"Ssh, ssh." Tess said, making Joel stop pulling the chain.

"What I don't hear anything?" Right when he said that, loud wails and screams were coming from the other side of the truck. More infected.

"Okay double time." Tess hurried Joel. He started pulling the chain faster than he was before.

"Oh they're coming." Ellie said, anxiously.

"Oh crap." I started panicking.

"Okay, okay that's good go." Tess pushed Ellie under the garage door just as the infected were jumping over the truck. I crawled under and held up the garage door open for Joel. The infected were coming straight at him when he was crawling under. One of them managed to grab his leg trying to drag him back.

"Drop it!" Tess shouted and we let go of the garage door letting it slam shut. The infected started banging on the door and screaming. They started stopping when they realized that they weren't going to get through.

"Oh- you got something on your shoe." Ellie said. I looked down and saw the infected's arm chopped off on Joel's shoe. He kicked it off.

"That's disgusting." I said, wrinkling my nose in digust.

"Yeah." Ellie nodded, agreeing with me.

"Okay, now how do we get out of this place?" Joel asked.

"Let's find out."

I started walking around the room, looking for supplies. Ellie was looking at something at the far end of the room.

"So..." Ellie said.

"So... how'd it happen?"

"How'd what happen?" Ellie looked over at me.

"Uh... you know, how'd you get bitten?" I asked.

"Oh. Well I was at a mall when I got bit."

"I bet that place was crawling with infected. How did you even get in?"

"I had my ways. One of those things you guys call runners, bit me." Ellie explained.

"Were you with someone when it happened?" Ellie looked away. She looked sad, and I immediately regretted bring it up.

"I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that."

"It's okay. And I was with someone." I nodded, but I didn't ask anything else.

"How'd you meet Joel and Tess?"

"It's a long story."

"Alright let's go." Joel said, just as Ellie was going to say something.

"I'll tell you later." I said to her, following Joel.

We walked into the next room, stocked with a bunch of boxes everywhere. Tess opened the next door and went in while Joel went to go search the other one. The room Tess went in was full of broken pieces of the ceiling and a table with a vase on there. I went to where Joel was, when I heard some glass break.

"Ow. Shit." I heard Tess say. "Sorry. Sorry, that was me."

"Tess." Joel said, shaking his head.

"Sorry." I walked back into the other room Tess was in. The vase that was on the table was now broken. I snorted. Nice going, Tess.

We climbed into the room above us through the broken ceiling.

"What is this place?" Ellie asked.

"It's an old museum. Some of these things are hundreds of years old."

"Really? Wow." Ellie said, amazed. I looked around the room. There was some small boats, some maps, a canon, and some other things inside some display cases.

We started crawling under some broken parts of the ceiling. Joel used a pipe that was wedged underneath a huge piece of rubble to lift it a little so we could get through.

"Alright watch your head." Joel said, as he lifted it up.

Tess pushed Ellie under it, and I followed as quickly as I could. The huge pieces of the wall caved in before I could fully get out of the hole. The pieces of rock fell onto my foot making me cry out in pain.

"Jason, oh crap." Tess could barely lift the rocks off my foot, just enough for me to get my foot out. I stood up and my foot screamed in protest when I put my weight on it. I winced.

"You okay?" Ellie asked. I nodded, but I was lying.

"Joel!"

"I'm alive. I'll make my way around to you." Just as he said that, we started hearing the clicks.

"Oh look they're here!" I looked to the side to see some clickers running toward us.

"Tess?" Joel called.

"Run. Run!" Even with the pain, I took off running behind Tess as the clickers ran into the room.

* * *

"Ellie, stay back!"

I shoved off the runner that was trying to bite me just as Joel burst into the room. When it came at me again, I stabbed it in the head with my switchblade, making blood squirt everywhere. I looked over at Tess as she bashed the runner's head open with a plank.

"Guys, get in here!" I heard Ellie shout from the other room. Tess ran into the room to go help her. I tried doing to same, but another runner got in the way knocking me to the floor. I grabbed the plank that Tess dropped on the floor and swung it at the runner's face. Blood flew everywhere, coating my face with it. The runner fell to the side, but before it could get up I slammed my foot into it's face, crushing it's skull.

I heard footsteps behind me, and before I could turn around on time a runner grabbed me. It started growling, too close to my ear, so I could feel it's breath on the back of my neck. I pushed it off me and stabbed it in the head with my switchblade.

Another infected went after me, stepping on my foot. I shouted in pain. "Ow. You motherfu-"

I started slamming my fist into it's face as hard as I could. The runner growling each time my fist connected with it's face, until finally it fell limp on the ground. I was breathing really hard.

"That was too damn close." Joel said, as the last infected went down. We walked into the other room up to the open window.

"Tess, how you holding up?"

"Just a bit winded." Tess said. She sounded sort of out of breath. "Look this way. This'll get us to the roof." Tess jumped out of the window onto the fire escape.

"How about you?" Joel asked me.

"I'm totally doing great." I gave him a thumbs up.

"Liar." Ellie teased.

"Whatever." I said. Joel shook his head.

"How about you kid? You okay?" Joel asked Ellie.

"Define okay." Ellie said.

"Are you still breathing?"

"Do small panicked breaths count?"

"Yeah they count."

"Alright. Then I'm okay."

I jumped out of the window onto the fire escape, then climbing onto the broken stairs. I looked down at Ellie. "Need help getting up here?"

"Sure." When she jumped up, I caught her hand and lifted her up. I looked at her. I mean really looked at her. Now that I thought about it, she was really pretty. When she caught me staring, I looked away feeling the warmness in my checks.

"Thanks." She said, continuing up the flights of stairs.

"Your welcome."

"We gotta find a way across." Tess said, as we got to the roof. "There she is. That's our building." She pointed into the distance, and I could see the golden building.

Joel placed the plank so that we could get across to the other roof. "Alright. Now what your step as you're going up 'cause it's going to be a little-" Joel started saying.

"Psh." Ellie climbed on the board and walked across. He glared at her, and I started laughing, making him glare at me, too.

"What?" I asked, still laughing.

"Just hurry up."

"Don't be so grouchy." I said as I climbed on. I hate Joel for making me walk across the board because I was scared of heights. I would never admit that to him though.

"Well was that everything you hoped for?" Joel asked Ellie.

"Jury's still out. But man... you cannot deny that view." Ellie said.

"C'mon this way." Tess said, walking over to the ladder. She looked over at Joel who was still standing over there. "Hey. Pick it up." He walked over to us.

"Look we're almost done. Stay focused." Tess told him, as I climbed down the ladder.

"Yes ma'am." I heard him say.


	6. Chapter 6: Good Luck Has to End, Right?

**And here is the next chapter! I'm sorry I took forever to upload it and it's a short chapter. Hopefully I will get the next chapter finished faster.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy it! And thank you to all the people that have reviewed, favorite, or follow. I appreciate it a lot.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters in the story except Jason.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Good Luck Has to End, Right?**

**Jason's POV **

"Um, just so it's out there, I can't swim." Ellie told us. We were heading straight toward some water that went up to my waist.

"What you cant swim?" I laughed.

"Hey don't make fun of me." She said, staring at the water.

"I wasn't making fun of you. Well you're going to have to learn. And quickly."

"How?"

"Just do the dog paddle thingy."

"Dog paddle thingy?"

"Yeah, you know. Like this." I started moving my hands like a dog. She giggled.

"Yeah I can't do that."

"Well there is no time to teach you how to swim. Do you want a piggy back ride?"

"What? You're acting like I'm a little girl."

"Well little girls cant swim, so I guess you are one."

"I'm not a little girl." She wined.

"You are the size of one."

"Whatever I'm almost as tall as you." She said. I stopped slouching and stood right next to her. She barely touched the bottom of my chin.

"My point exactly." I said, looking down at her.

"Okay so you might be a little taller than me."

"You call that a little? I'm almost a foot taller." I said.

"Whatever. Look just help me figure out how to get across without drowning."

"Looks like it's shallow from the right side. Follow me." Tess said, leading Ellie.

"I'm glad Marlene hired you guys." Ellie said a moment later.

"What do you mean?"

"I know you guys are getting paid for this, but I'm trying to say thanks."

After wading through the water, we made our way up the stairs to the capital building.

"No. No. No." Tess started repeating as she ran into the capital building. I walked in after her, spotting the dead bodies of the Fireflies, surrounded by a large pool of blood.

"What happens now?" Ellie asked. Tess ran over to the dead bodies and started looking through the Firefly's pockets, looking for something.

"What are you doing Tess?" Joel asked, walking up to her.

"Maybe they ah, they had a map or something to tell us where they were going."

"How far are we going to take this?"

"As far as it needs to go." She said, still searching the body. She looked over at Ellie. "Where was this lab of theirs?"

"Oh she never said. She only mentioned that it was someplace out west." Ellie respond.

"What are we doing here? This is not us." Joel started to raise his voice.

"What do you know about us? About me?" Tess asked.

"I know that you are smarter than this."

"Really? Guess what we're shitty people Joel. It's been that way for a long time."

"No we are survivors."

"This is our chance-" Joel interrupted Tess.

"It is over Tess! We tried. Now let's just go home."

"I'm not going anywhere. This is my last stop."

"What?" Joel asked. I frowned, a little confused.

"You aren't coming with us?" Tess looked at me when I asked her.

"Our luck had to run out sooner or later." She said.

"What are you going on about?" Joel walked over to her and tried reaching out to her. She shrugged his hand off.

"No don't touch me."

"Holy shit." Ellie said, after a moment. I looked over at her to see her eyes widening. "She's infected."

When Ellie said that, my heart stopped beating. I stood staring at Tess not really believing my ears. There was no way that Tess could have been bitten. Anyone, but Tess. I shook my head. "No way." I whispered.

Joel stared at Tess. When she didn't say that she wasn't infected, Joel started backing away. "Joel-"

"Let me see." He said to her. She shook her head.

"I didn't mean for this-" Tess tried saying, but Joel didn't let her.

"Show it to me." She yanked the collar of her shirt backwards revealing the bleeding bike mark on her neck. I felt my mouth drop open.

"Oh Christ."

"Opps right?" She said, then walked over to Ellie and rolled up her sleeve that was concealing the bite mark. "Give me your arm. This was three weeks. I was bitten an hour ago and it is already worse." She pointed at Ellie's arm. "This is fucking real Joel. You have to get this girl to Tommy's. He used to run with this crew he'll know where to go."

"No no no. This was your cruisade. I am not doing that."

"Yes you are. There is enough here that you feel some sort of obligation to me. So you get her to Tommy's." She told Joel. I turned toward the window when I heard the distant sound of a car approaching.

"Shit." Tess ran to the window, looking outside. I could see a bunch of soldiers jumping out of the trucks.

"Watch the exit." One of them shouted.

"They're here."

"I can buy you some time, but you are going to have to run." Tess told us.

"What? You want us to just leave you here?" Ellie asked.

"Yes."

"There is no way that-" Joel said.

"I will not turn into one of those things. C'mon make this easy for me."

"I can fight-"

"No just go! Just fucking go." She pushed Joel.

"Ellie-" Joel started backing away, motioning her to follow.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean for this." Tess said.

"Get a move on." Joel commanded Ellie. He started heading toward the door, with Ellie right at his heels. I stayed where I was.

"Jason-"

"You promised her before she died. You promised my mother."

"I kept that promise for as long as I could." She said, tears filling her eyes. She grabbed my arm pulling me into a hug.

"I can't believe this is happening." I whispered. I could feel stinging in my eyes. Oh great, I was going to cry now.

"Jason you have to go. Leave." She said, as she let her arms fall back to her sides.

"No. I can't leave you."

"Yes you can." She whispered. I could hear the footsteps of the soldiers right outside of the door. I felt a small hand grab mine, and I looked down to see Ellie pulling me away. Joel shut the door after we had got inside.

"We know you're in there. Drop your weapons and come out with your hands up!" I could hear the soldiers shouting through the door.

"Are we really just going to leave her like that?" I asked Joel.

"What the fuck? I can't believe we did that." Ellie said.

"Stop." Joel said.

"We just left her to die." Ellie said.

"Stop! You both stay close to me. We have to move." Joel said. We started walking to the stairs. Every single step I took hurt, I wanted to go back for Tess.

"We'll go upstairs. We can probably get out from there." Joel said, as we were climbing the stairs. Suddenly, you could hear the gun shots and Tess screaming. The stinging in my eyes got worse. Everything went blurry from the tears, but I blinked them away. Crying wouldn't bring Tess back.

Joel lead us through the hallway over to the ledge. We looked over to see Tess on the ground with a pool of blood forming around her.

"Target neutralized. She took out two of my men. Copy that." One soldiers said to his walkie talkie. Then he addressed the other two soldiers. "You take out the door. You with me."

You could hear the soldier banging on the door we had gone through, trying to break it down.

"They're going to be here soon."

The door broke open. "We're through." The soldier shouted.

We ran into the next room. Half of the wall had been broken away, so we jumped through the hole into the next building.


	7. Chapter 7: Subway

**I finished this chapter faster this time because I felt bad for making you guys wait. So here's the next chapter.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy it! And thank you to all the people that have reviewed, favorite, or follow. I appreciate it a lot.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Last of Us or any of the characters in the story except Jason.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Subway**

**Jason's POV**

"They're escaping through the hall. Go around!" A soldier shouted, as they entered through the door down the hall. We were crouched behind a table, so they couldn't spot us.

"What do we do, Joel?" Ellie whispered. He didn't answer her. He sneaked into the next room where one of the soldiers was searching for us. Joel chocked him out. We went back to the hallway. I went and hid behind one the tables while Joel went to go kill the next soldier.

"Oh shit!" The other soldier spotted Joel while he was strangling the soldier. He started firing his gun at Joel, but he missed, instead hitting the soldier. I got my gun out and aimed for the guy's head from behind the table. I squeezed the trigger.

"_Bang!_" Blood splattered everywhere as the soldier went down. I had a sour taste in my mouth. I looked at the ground and I started puking. I just killed someone.

"That's gross." Ellie said, when she saw me hunched over.

I wiped my mouth, trying not to look at the puke. "This was the first time I killed someone that wasn't already infected."

"Alright c'mon." Joel said, once he made sure there wasn't anymore soldiers around. We went through the door the soldiers had come through. After going down many flights of stairs, we jumped down the broken stair case into another room.

"How are we going to get out of here, Joel?"

"We're going to go through that hall." Joel answered. "Stay down I don't know how many more there are."

"They have to come through here. Comb the area." I heard a soldier shout.

We went into one of the hallways in the room, and I could hear a soldier walking toward. Just as he was coming into the room, Joel got him into a headlock, putting him out silently. I grabbed the next guy we had ran into and started strangling him. I could hear gurgling as I squeezed tighter on his neck, until he stopped moving. Killing this guy was easier than the first time.

In the next room we went to, two soldiers were circling around, trying to find us. Joel signal to me to go for one while he went for the other.

"There is the exit." Ellie said once we had killed the last two soldiers. I sighed with relief.

"Let's go."

Once we were out of the capital building, Ellie pointed out some stairs leading down to the subway station. As we were heading down the stairs, I heard the sound of a vehicle.

"They're going into the subway. Stop 'em!" A soldier shouted. The started firing their guns at us, and I nearly got hit by one that flew fast my head. We turned the corner, and they couldn't hit us anymore, but we kept running. As we were running through the hallways, I could see some spores up ahead. Joel and I put our gas masks on, while Ellie kept breathing them in.

"Get down." We crouched down as two soldiers came walking toward us. It was very hard to see through the spores, so it was almost like we were sitting in some fog.

"No target. I repeat no target." One the soldiers said. He was shinning a flashlight throughout the room, but he didn't spot us through the spores.

"There is a soldier over there." Ellie whispered, pointing toward the light. I could barely see their bodies.

"Understood. Hold your position and wait for reinforcements." A man told the soldier through the walkie talkie.

"How the hell are you breathing in this stuff?" Joel asked Ellie. He sounded weird when he had the gas mask on.

"I wasn't lying to you." She said, looking at Joel.

"You spot them?" One of the soldiers asked the other.

"No. Search the area. Let's find them and get the hell out of here before the clickers show up."

A soldier started heading our way while the other started walking in the opposite direction. Joel started strangling the soldier while the other one was completely oblivious that his friend was being killed.

"Fuck. They're not here." He said, talking to himself. He started walking in our direction. After Joel had taken him out, too, we went through this door ahead of us, leading to a caved in stair case. We went back the way we came, and started heading to the old trains.

I jumped onto the train through the back, and looked around. There was seats on either side of the train with papers littered all over the ground. I kept walking to the other end of the train, wondering what it was like to ride one. I jumped off the train and followed Joel onto the next one. When we came to the end of it, it was nearly flooded with water. Joel and I hopped inside the water, and it was cold.

"Hey, uh I can't swim." Ellie said, from behind us. She was staring at us from the back of the train car.

"We'll figure something out." Joel and I swan across while Ellie walked along a path. We still needed to get her to the other side of the subway station. We started looking around for something to get her across. I couldn't really see in the darkness, so I ended up hitting my head into the plank of wood floating in the water.

"Son of a-" I rubbed my head. "This could work." I said to myself. I dragged it back to where Ellie was waiting.

"What's that for?" Ellie asked, when she saw me dragging the plank.

"Jump on it."

"No fucking way. That's not going to hold me."

"Yeah it will. Just get on."

"What if it breaks and I start drowning."

"I'll save you and you can kick my ass for almost killing you." She didn't get on. "Just get the fuck on before I throw you on it."

"You wouldn't." She said.

"Try me." She shook her head, murmuring something as she climbed on. It wobbled a little making her tense up on the board.

"See? You're not drowning yet." I said, as I started pushing her toward Joel, who was floating in the water on the other side of the subway. I pushed the board right next to the surface, so Ellie could hop off. She knocked the ladder down for us. I climbed up the ladder after Joel, shaking as much of the water off of me as I could.

"You are just like a dog." Ellie said, wiping some of the water I had sprayed on her. I smirked.

We walked down the hallway. There was some gates making it look like a jail cell, not a subway station. We went up the stairs, and we could see some light straight ahead of us. When we reached the surface, my eyes stung when the light hit them. I took off my gas mask, taking deep breaths of the air. Joel took his off too, and went to go sit on a rock.

"Hey...look about Tess-" Ellie said, as she started pacing. "I don't even know what to say-"

"Here's how this thing's going to play out." Joel interrupted her. "You don't bring up Tess -ever. Matter of fact, let's just keep our histories to our selves. Secondly, don't tell anyone about your condition. They'll either think you are crazy or they'll try to kill you. And lastly, you do what I say and when I say it. We clear?"

"Sure." She said, looking away from him.

"Repeat it." Joel demanded.

"What you say goes."

"Good." He got up from the rock and looked in the distance. "Now there is a town few miles north of here. There's a fella there that owes me some favors. Good chance he could get us a car."

"Wait. Are you talking about Bill?" I asked. There was absolutely no way I ever wanted to see that asshole again.

"Yes. And look I know you don't like-"

"Of course I don't like him. He nearly shot my brains out the last time I talked to him."

"Well too bad. We are going to go see him."

"Fine." I started following Joel, frowning.

"Now I think we should stop somewhere and get some rest." We walked as far away from the capital building, hoping that the military was nowhere near the area. We went into the apartment building and made sure that there was no infected inside. Joel walked into one of the rooms and laid on the bed.

I stayed by the couch staring at the wall.

"So what's up with you and that Bill guy?" Ellie asked as she sat across from me on the other couch.

"It's a long story." I said. I stretched my legs out on the couch, hugging one of the red pillows.

"We have a lot of time."

"Well, my sister and I-"

"Wait you had a sister?" She interrupted, clearly shocked by what I had said.

"Yeah. She was my twin."

"Lucky, I wish I had a sibling. Where is she?"

"I don't know. She just kinda left out of nowhere one day. I always assumed she was dead though. Her name was Alex." I said.

"What about your mom?"

"She had died trying to save me. After that Tess started taking care of me." I paused. "What about your mom?"

"She died giving birth to me."

"Oh well that sucks then." She nodded.

"Okay so back to Bill." She said.

"My sister and I had a bet with our friend Eric to see how many traps we could find in his little town. And let's just say Bill got a little pissed off that we started setting them all off, so he tried shooting me in the head. He ended up hitting Eric in the leg though."

"Was your friend okay?"

"Yeah. And just like every other person in my life, he ended up leaving, too." I looked at her. "I'm going to go to sleep. See ya tomorrow."

I turned over onto my side, kicking off my shoes.


End file.
